Crashed party puts heat on WH Social Secretary. White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs rejected suggestions from the press on Monday that the White House Social Office bears any responsibility for the now-infamous state dinner crash. NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports. Yikes! Looks as if Desiree Rogers may have dropped the ball on this one.
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Is the Obama White House too lax with Security?
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(NPR) White House Social Secretary (Desiree Rogers) Sends Her Regrets; Won't Testify About Crashers
She's been invited to tell her side of the story to Congress, but White House social secretary Desiree Rogers will not be testifying at tomorrow's hearing about how two socialites managed to get into last week's State Dinner without invitations.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters this afternoon that the Obama team is going to take a page from previous administrations -- Republican and Democratic -- and cite the separation of powers and past history as justifications for not having a member of the White House staff testify.
As Frank wrote on Monday, the whole Gategate saga not only highlighted a surprising lapse by the Secret Service -- which let Tariq and Michaele Salahi into the State Dinner for India's prime minister -- but also laid bare the decision by Rogers' office not to have a staff member at the entrance gate to help make sure that everyone allowed in was actually on the invite list.
That had been the practice in previous administrations. And, according to ABC News' Political Punch Blog, it will now be the practice in the Obama White House.
Tomorrow's hearing could still be a must-see, though. The House Committee on Homeland Security has called the Salahis to come testify. Since they haven't been exactly shy about talking this week, their appearance could be fascinating.
The hearing is set to get going at 10 a.m. ET.
We reported earlier that some e-mails the Salahis exchanged with a Pentagon official show they went to the White House without knowing whether they'd really been invited or not.
(Politico) Social secretary not going to Hill
White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers will not testify in the congressional probe of last week's security lapse at the president's state dinner, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.
“I think you know that based on separation of powers, staff here don't go to testify in front of Congress,” Gibbs told reporters. “She will not be testifying in front of Congress tomorrow.”
Rogers has been under scrutiny in the last week following reports that her office did not station a staff member at the White House gate to help the Secret Service screen guests at the state dinner, as has long been protocol in past administrations.
Gibbs acknowledged that procedure has been changed since last week and a staffer was present at the security checkpoint for a holiday social event Tuesday night.
“As the Secret Service has reviewed their security procedures for how people get into this complex, so, too, has the White House looked at its procedures,” Gibbs said. “Last night was the first of many holiday parties that will happen in this complex over the next several weeks. We had staff at the security checkpoint to ensure that if there was any confusion about lists those would be double-checked with somebody representing the Social Office.”
Still, the White House has maintained that Rogers's office bore no responsibility for the breach that allowed a Northern Virginia Couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, to sneak into the state dinner uninvited.
While Gibbs said Tuesday that the president and first lady were "angry" about the security violation, he said in his Wednesday briefing: "The first family is quite pleased with [Rogers's] performance."
Sources: NPR, MSNBC, Politico, Cripes Suzette!, ABC News, House.gov, Wikipedia
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